Placeholder control object for creating and viewing content in connection with a content management server system

ABSTRACT

A placeholder control object is positioned on a page of a web site hosted by a content management server (CMS). The CMS stores the page with the placeholder control object therein and serves same to a requestor thereof. In a presentation mode, the page and the placeholder control object therein are served by the CMS to a requesting viewer of the page at a browser thereof. In such presentation mode, the placeholder control object displays associated content to the viewer within the browser thereof. In an authoring mode, the page and the placeholder control object therein are served by the CMS to a requesting designer of the page at a browser thereof. In such authoring mode, the placeholder control object allows editing of the associated content by the designer within the browser thereof and saving the edited content to the CMS.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.______, filed concurrently herewith under Attorney Docket No. MSFT-1946and entitled “DYNAMIC LINK CONTROL OBJECT FOR DYNAMICALLY PRESENTINGLINK OPTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH A CONTENT MANAGEMENT SERVER SYSTEM”,hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a content management serer system witha placeholder control object that functions in an authoring mode tofacilitate authoring of content on a page and in a presentation mode tofacilitate presentation of the authored content on the page. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to such a placeholdercontrol object that is served with the page and that assumes the propermode depending on whether the page is being authored or presented.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As may be appreciated, a content management server (CMS) is employed byan enterprise or organization to build, deploy, and maintain acontent-rich web site such as that which may be accessible by way of theInternet or another network. Such a CMS streamlines the web publishingprocess, thereby reducing costly site maintenance and empowering theenterprise or organization to manage its own content. An example of sucha CMS is provided by the MICROSOFT Content Management Serverapplication, as developed and marketed by MICROSOFT Corporation ofRedmond, Wash., USA.

Thus, a CMS is employed to deploy an Internet, intranet, or extranet website, and provides tools necessary to build and deploy the coreinfrastructure of a web site, including site structure, presentationtemplates, site design, application integration, and security. Inaddition, once a site has been deployed, managers and content authorscan use CMS tools to create, publish, and manage their own content.

Typically, a CMS provides content managers, authors, and the like withtools that enable such personnel to create and publish rich,personalized content directly to a web site. A role-based distributedpublishing model is typically employed, where such model incorporates anapproval workflow with multiple levels, automatic content scheduling andarchiving, and content indexing. Developers can create centrally-managedpage templates and publishing processes that ensure consistency acrossthe site, thus ensuring adherence to organizational publishing standardsand branding without diminishing the flexibility of the publishingenvironment.

In the prior art, a designer designing a page of content by way of a CMSwould be required to employ a specialized authoring tool to lay out thepage, and the specialized authoring tool would then convert the laid outpage into an appropriate format in which such page is to be served bythe CMS. An example of such an appropriate format is HTML or XML,although other formats can be employed. Thus, the designed designing thepage had to possess a considerable amount of knowledge regarding the useand operation of the specialized authoring tool, full mastery of whichcould take a considerable amount of time.

As a result, a typical non-technical enterprise functionary could noteasily edit a designed page, such as for example to modify the page orto create a similar page, without the aid of the designer. Moreover,such functionary could not easily create and design such a page withoutthe aid of such designer.

Accordingly, a need exists for a CMS system with an authoring tool thatis usable by a non-technical enterprise functionary to create, modify,and/or edit a page of content to be served by the CMS. Moreparticularly, a need exists for such an authoring tool with a toolbox ofcontrol objects, where the functionary can at least in part design apage by laying out on the page one or more control objects from thetoolbox and then editing each control object as necessary.

Even more particularly, a need exists for a placeholder control objectthat functions in an authoring mode to facilitate authoring of contenton the page and in a presentation mode to facilitate presentation of theauthored content on the page, depending on whether the page is beingauthored or presented. Accordingly, a functionary can navigate by way ofthe CMS to a page with one or more of such placeholder control objects,switch from a presentation mode to an authoring mode, and edit thenavigated-to page. After editing is finished and the page is saved, thefunctionary can then switch from the authoring mode to the presentationmode and view the edited page as it would appear to any party requestingthat same be served thereto.

With such a placeholder control object, authoring and presentation ofthe content associated with object are functionally separate, yet aredesigned together to seamlessly provide the appropriate editing andviewing functions. For example if in authoring mode, a placeholdercontrol object can provide a text box control to edit text content, andif in presentation mode, the object can provide a literal control tosimply render the edited text content. Since the placeholder controlobject is a composition of the text box control and the literal control,such control maintains the same layout between authoring andpresentation and hence provides a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)effect.

In addition, a need exists for a dynamic link control object thatfunctions to dynamically present navigation links to a viewer on a pagedepending on the context of the page. Thus, the presented links maydepend on such factors as the page itself, the position of the dynamiclink control object on the page, the position of the page within thehierarchy of a web site having such page, the history of the viewerprior to viewing the page, and/or other contexts relating to the page.Accordingly, a functionary designing the page need not specify each linkto be presented to the viewer but need only place an appropriate dynamiclink control object on the page, where the dynamic link control objectautomatically determines what links to be presented to the viewer basedon the context of the page.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aforementioned needs are satisfied at least in part by the presentinvention in which a placeholder control object is positioned on a pageof a web site hosted by a content management server (CMS). The CMSstores the page with the placeholder control object therein and servessame to a requestor thereof. The placeholder control object and the pagehave a presentation mode and an authoring mode, and the placeholdercontrol object has content associated therewith.

In the presentation mode, the page and the placeholder control objecttherein are served by the CMS to a requesting viewer of the page at abrowser thereof. In such presentation mode, the placeholder controlobject displays the associated content to the viewer within the browserthereof. In the authoring mode, the page and the placeholder controlobject therein are served by the CMS to a requesting designer of thepage at a browser thereof. In such authoring mode, the placeholdercontrol object allows editing of the associated content by the designerwithin the browser thereof and saving the edited content to the CMS.

To employ the placeholder control object, a designer creates the pagewith the aid of the CMS and within a browser, and receives at thebrowser the served page and the placeholder control object therein fromthe CMS in the editable authoring mode. The designer edits the contentof the placeholder control object and saves the page and the editedplaceholder control object therein to the CMS, and receives at thebrowser the saved page and the placeholder control object therein fromthe CMS in the non-editable presentation mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofthe embodiments of the present invention, will be better understood whenread in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose ofillustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings embodimentswhich are presently preferred. As should be understood, however, theinvention is not limited to the precise arrangements andinstrumentalities shown. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing a general purpose computer systemin which aspects of the present invention and/or portions thereof may beincorporated;

FIG. 2 is block diagram showing a content management server (CMS) systemin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a placeholder control object of theCMS system of FIG. 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing key steps performed in creating orediting a page with the placeholder control object of FIG. 3 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a dynamic link control object of theCMS system of FIG. 2 in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing key steps performed in serving a pagewith the dynamic link control object of FIG. 5 in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Computer Environment

FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a briefgeneral description of a suitable computing environment in which thepresent invention and/or portions thereof may be implemented. Althoughnot required, the invention is described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer, such as a client workstation or a server.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures and the like that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, it should beappreciated that the invention and/or portions thereof may be practicedwith other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers and thelike. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, an exemplary general purpose computing systemincludes a conventional personal computer 120 or the like, including aprocessing unit 121, a system memory 122, and a system bus 123 thatcouples various system components including the system memory to theprocessing unit 121. The system bus 123 may be any of several types ofbus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Thesystem memory includes read-only memory (ROM) 124 and random accessmemory (RAM) 125. A basic input/output system 126 (BIOS), containing thebasic routines that help to transfer information between elements withinthe personal computer 120, such as during start-up, is stored in ROM124.

The personal computer 120 may further include a hard disk drive 127 forreading from and writing to a hard disk (not shown), a magnetic diskdrive 128 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 129,and an optical disk drive 130 for reading from or writing to a removableoptical disk 131 such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The hard diskdrive 127, magnetic disk drive 128, and optical disk drive 130 areconnected to the system bus 123 by a hard disk drive interface 132, amagnetic disk drive interface 133, and an optical drive interface 134,respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable mediaprovide non-volatile storage of computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules and other data for the personal computer120.

Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk,a removable magnetic disk 129, and a removable optical disk 131, itshould be appreciated that other types of computer readable media whichcan store data that is accessible by a computer may also be used in theexemplary operating environment. Such other types of media include amagnetic cassette, a flash memory card, a digital video disk, aBernoulli cartridge, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), and the like.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magneticdisk 129, optical disk 131, ROM 124 or RAM 125, including an operatingsystem 135, one or more application programs 136, other program modules137 and program data 138. A user may enter commands and information intothe personal computer 120 through input devices such as a keyboard 140and pointing device 142. Other input devices (not shown) may include amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite disk, scanner, or the like.These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit121 through a serial port interface 146 that is coupled to the systembus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port,game port, or universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 147 or other type ofdisplay device is also connected to the system bus 123 via an interface,such as a video adapter 148. In addition to the monitor 147, a personalcomputer typically includes other peripheral output devices (not shown),such as speakers and printers. The exemplary system of FIG. 1 alsoincludes a host adapter 155, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)bus 156, and an external storage device 162 connected to the SCSI bus156.

The personal computer 120 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remotecomputer 149. The remote computer 149 may be another personal computer,a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common networknode, and typically includes many or all of the elements described aboverelative to the personal computer 120, although only a memory storagedevice 150 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connectionsdepicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 151 and a widearea network (WAN) 152. Such networking environments are commonplace inoffices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet.The personal computer 120 may also act as a host to a guest such asanother personal computer 120, a more specialized device such as aportable player or portable data assistant, or the like, whereby thehost downloads data to and/or uploads data from the guest, among otherthings.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 120 isconnected to the LAN 151 through a network interface or adapter 153.When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer 120typically includes a modem 154 or other means for establishingcommunications over the wide area network 152, such as the Internet. Themodem 154, which may be internal or external, is connected to the systembus 123 via the serial port interface 146. In a networked environment,program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 120, orportions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. Itwill be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary andother means of establishing a communications link between the computersmay be used.

Content Management Server System Overview

In one embodiment of the present invention, and turning now to FIG. 2, aContent Management Server (CMS) system 10 includes a CMS 12 and anauthoring tool 14 for allowing a user with appropriate access rights tonavigate to a page 16 served by the CMS 10 and then edit such page 16.

The page 16 may have any content therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention, although it is to beunderstood that the user is editing or modifying such page 16 for thepurpose of being served by the CMS 12, and therefore the page 16presumably has some relevance to a web site 18 hosted by the CMS 12. Forexample, if the web site 18 is an electronic storefront, the page 16 mayrelate to an item available for sale thereat. Likewise, if the web site18 is a support site, the page 16 may be a knowledge base article.

The authoring tool 14 may be any appropriate application or toolassociated with the CMS 12 without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention, presuming that such tool 14 provides thefunctionality required by the user to in fact edit such page 16. Forexample, the tool 14 may be CMS-based and thus may be accessed by theuser in the course of accessing the page 16 to edit same.Correspondingly, the tool 14 may be user-based and thus may beinstantiated on a work station of the user. Notably, although the CMS 12likely serves the page 16 in a format such as Hyper Text Markup Language(HTML), the tool 14 need not necessarily produce the page 16 in suchHTML format. Instead, the CMS 12 could serve the page 16 in anotherformat, or the tool 14 could produce the page 16 in another format afterwhich the CMS 12 could convert the page into such HTML format asnecessary.

The CMS 12 itself may be any appropriate CMS without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention. Inasmuch as the CMS 12 isknown or should be apparent to the relevant public, such CMS 12 need notbe described in detail herein except as set forth. Typically, such CMS12 includes a content database 20 within which is stored pages 16 to beserved by such CMS 12 in the course of hosting the web site 18, and anetwork interface 22 by which the CMS 12 receives requests for suchpages 16 and returns such pages 16 in response thereto. As may beappreciated, pages 16 within the content database 20 of the CMS 18 arestored with a pre-defined address such as a Universal Resource Locator(URL). Accordingly, a page 16 may be requested based on such URL andlocated within the content database 20 based on such URL.

In one embodiment of the present invention, and still referring to FIG.2, the authoring tool 14 includes a toolbox 24 that has therein aplurality of tools or ‘control objects’ which a user may employ toconstruct a page 16 to be served by the CMS 12. In one embodiment of thepresent invention, each control object has some sort of contentassociated therewith, and the user can ‘drag’ a copy of a control objectfrom the toolbox 24 and ‘drop’ such dragged control object onto a page16 being created or edited.

Thus, the user can then position the dropped control object on an areaof the page 16 and perhaps size same, and thereafter may edit thecontents associated with or to be associated with such control object ifsuch control object so allows. As a result, the control object ispositioned on the page 16 in a manner in which a viewer views the page16 after the page 16 is served thereto. Accordingly, the authoring tool14 with the toolbox 24 and the control objects therein allows the userto design the page 16 essentially in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what youget) manner within a browser at a work station of the user. Morespecifically, within the browser, the userdesigns/edits/modifies/creates a page 16 by way ofadding/removing/editing control objects in the page 16, and can thenview the finished page 16 in the same browser. Thus, editing inparticular is done within the ‘look and feel’ of the browser, and isthereby greatly simplified.

Note that a control object may be placed in a template from which a page16 is to be designed. Thus, the page 16 as designed from the templateautomatically includes the control object and such control object can bemodified as appropriate within the page. Note, too, that by placingcontrol objects in a template and allowing a user to design a page 16only from such a template, the user may be appropriately restricted asto what may be designed into a page. Thus, and as a result, a catalogdesigner that designs pages for catalog items can be restricted to atemplate that only allows such catalog designer to design such pages,and only in a predetermined style of layout. Such catalog designer canbe restricted from, for example, templates for designing order entrypages, and can otherwise be restricted from designing pages to haveinappropriate content.

Placeholder Control Object

In one embodiment of the present invention, and turning now to FIG. 3,one control object in the toolbox 24 of the authoring tool 14 is aplaceholder control object 26 that holds the place of associated contentwithin a page 16 and that functions differently depending upon the modein which the CMS 12 is directed to serve such page 16. In particular, ifthe page 16 is to be served in a presentation mode (to the left in FIG.3), the CMS 12 so serves such page 16 with the placeholder controlobject 26 appropriately displaying the associated content. Thus, and asmay now be appreciated, the CMS 12 normally serves such page 16 with theplaceholder control object 26 in the presentation mode when the page 16is requested by a typical viewer, such as a customer perusing thecorresponding web site 18.

Correspondingly, if the page 16 is to be served in an authoring mode (tothe right in FIG. 3), the CMS 12 so serves such page 16 with theplaceholder control object 26 appropriately displaying controls thatallow the associated content to be edited, created, and/or modified.Thus, and as may also now be appreciated, the CMS 12 serves such page 16with the placeholder control object 26 in the authoring mode when thepage 16 is requested by a user editing or modifying or creating the page16, such as a functionary in the enterprise running the CMS 12.

With the placeholder control object 26, then, and perhaps with theauthoring tool 14 and the toolbox 24, an enterprise functionary cancreate, modify, and edit a page 16 directly within a browser that isdisplaying the page at a work station of the functionary, merely byswitching the page 16 from a presentation mode to an authoring modewithin the browser. Such switching between modes is achieved (1) byproviding the placeholder control object 26 as stored at the CMS 12within a page 16 with both authoring and presentation modes, and (2) byproviding the CMS 12 with the ability to serve the page 16 with theplaceholder control object 26 in either the authoring mode or thepresentation mode depending upon the mode of the served page 16.

In one embodiment of the present invention, when a user selects toswitch the page 16 and the placeholder control objects 26 thereinbetween authoring mode and presentation mode, such mode switch issignaled to the CMS 12, which then serves such page 16 and theplaceholder control objects 26 therein in such switched-to mode.Accordingly, the CMS 12 only provides the functionality appropriate tothe switched-to mode. Thus, and for example, a viewer viewing the page16 in presentation mode cannot somehow by accident or by design causethe placeholder control objects 26 in the page 16 to operate inauthoring mode.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each placeholder controlobject 26 is instantiated from a class of such objects, including atleast one base class and perhaps one or more inheriting classes thatinherit from the base class. Note that by employing classes, aprogrammer may develop a custom placeholder control object 26 based on aplaceholder control object 26 already existing in the toolbox 24 merelyby defining the custom placeholder control object 26 as inheriting fromthe existing placeholder control object 26, and then by definingfunctionality specific to such custom placeholder control object 26.

As may be appreciated, a particular placeholder control object 26 may beany type of placeholder control object 26 without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention. Typically, and as should nowbe appreciated, any particular placeholder control object 26 is designedto have content associated therewith, is defined to display such contentwhen in presentation mode, and is designed to edit, create, or modifysuch content when in authoring mode. Note that it is also to beappreciated that a particular placeholder control object 26 can haveradically different functionality as between presentation and authoringmodes without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

As an example of a placeholder control object 26, a simple text boxplaceholder control object 26 in presentation mode may displaypre-defined text, and in authoring mode may allow the text to bemodified by way of a text box control. Likewise, a text sourceplaceholder control object 26 in presentation mode may display text froma pre-defined source such as a file or a network location, and inauthoring mode may allow the source to be modified. Also likewise, atext selection placeholder control object 26 in authoring mode may allowa user to select from a pre-defined set of texts, and in presentationmode may display the selected text.

Similarly, a picture box placeholder control object 26 in presentationmode may display a pre-defined picture, and in authoring mode may allowthe picture to be modified. Likewise, a picture source placeholdercontrol object 26 in presentation mode may display a picture from apre-defined source such as a file or a network location, and inauthoring mode may allow the source to be modified. Also likewise, apicture selection placeholder control object 26 in authoring mode mayallow a user to select from a pre-defined set of pictures, and inpresentation mode may display the selected picture.

Aside from modifying content such as pictures and text, a placeholdercontrol object may also allow rules to be defined with regard to whetherand how to display the content. For example, a particular placeholdercontrol object 26 may in authoring mode allow some sort of content to bedefined and also allow display rules for whether to display the contentto be defined. One such display rule may be that the content is notdisplayed if the user has not logged in. Thus, if the display rules aresatisfied, the defined content is displayed in presentation mode.Similarly, the particular placeholder control object 26 may in authoringmode allow display rules for how to display the content to be defined.One such display rule may be that despite any default browser settings,the content is displayed in a certain style. Thus, the defined contentis displayed in presentation mode according to the display rules.

Note, too, that the content need not merely be text or pictures.Instead, the content as defined for a placeholder control object may bean executable, a link to an object, an interactive tool, and the like.Also, the content as defined may be personalized to the viewer viewingsame.

Significantly, regardless of whatever the content may be that isdisplayed in presentation mode, the placeholder control object 26 isdefined to know how to load the content from the appropriate locationthereof. Thus, the user need not be concerned with such details unlessdeemed necessary or desirable to do so. Note that the content may beloaded from an external location, such as a network site, a database, aremote file, and the like, or from an internal location, such as abuffer with the placeholder control object 26 within the page 16, a datafile intimately associated with and tied to the page 16, and the like,all without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

Also significantly, the placeholder control object 26 is defined to knowhow to save content to the appropriate location thereof. Thus, andagain, the user need not be concerned with such details unless deemednecessary or desirable to do so. Such saving typically occurs inauthoring mode, but saving may also occur in presentation mode forexample in the situation where the placeholder control object collectsdata from a viewer thereof. Note that content may also be saved in arelatively simple manner such as for example simple text or in a morecomplex manner such as for example as partitioned database filedentries, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

Turning now to FIG. 4, a method of employing a placeholder controlobject 26 in connection with a page 16 from a web site 18 is shown inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Presumably, thepage 16 is first created by a user with the aid of the authoring tool 14of the CMS 12 (step 401) and in the context of a browser. In particular,the user creates the page 16 either from a pre-defined templateavailable to the user, where the template has one or more placeholdercontrol objects 26 therein (step 401 a), or from scratch with one ormore placeholder control objects 26 as obtained from the toolbox 24 ofsuch authoring tool 14 (step 401 b). In the latter case, the userpresumably has appropriate rights to so create the page 16 from scratchand not from a template, although it is to be appreciated that all pages16 may be created from a template.

As may be appreciated, at some point during the creation of the page 16,the user defines for each placeholder control object 26 therein thecontents thereof. In particular, the user first directs the authoringtool 14 to put the page 16 and each placeholder control object 26therein into authoring mode (step 403), thereby causing the CMS 12 to infact serve the page 16 and each placeholder control object 26 therein inauthoring mode (step 405). Of course, any appropriate mechanism may beemployed to in fact direct the authoring tool 14 to put the page 16 andeach placeholder control object 26 therein into authoring mode withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Forexample, the authoring tool may include a switch or button thatalternates between authoring mode and presentation mode. Similar tobefore, the user presumably has appropriate rights to actuate theauthoring mode with the authoring tool 14. It maybe the case that theactuating switch or button or the like appears to the user only if theuser has such appropriate authoring rights.

Once in authoring mode, the user appropriately modifies the content ofeach placeholder control object 26 as desired and/or as necessary basedon the type of such placeholder control object 26 (step 407). Forexample, for a picture selection placeholder control object 26, the usermay select a particular picture from among a predetermined set ofpictures, and from a text box placeholder control object 26, the usermay alter the text to be displayed. In addition, if available, the usermay re-size each placeholder control object 26 as it appears on the page16 and/or may move the placeholder control object 26 to a differentposition on the page 16.

Once all authoring of the page 16 is complete, the user then directs theauthoring tool 14 to save the authored page 16 (step 409). In oneembodiment of the present invention, the authoring tool 14 and the CMS12 automatically know how to in fact save the page 16, and accordinglythe user need not be concerned with the actual mechanism thereof. Ofcourse, once saved, the user may return to modifying the page 16 as atstep 407 or may decide to end authoring of the page 16 by directing theauthoring tool 14 to put the page 16 and each placeholder control object26 therein into presentation mode (step 411), thereby causing the CMS 12to in fact serve the page 16 and each placeholder control object 26therein in presentation mode (step 413). Note that it may be the casethat saving the page 16 as at step 409 may automatically place actuatepresentation mode as at step 413. Likewise, it may be the case thatactuating presentation mode as at step 413 may automatically save thepage as at step 409, or at least prompt to the user to determine whetherthe page 16 is to be saved.

Once saved, and presuming the page 16 is otherwise available, the CMS 12may then serve such page 16 to any requesting viewer at a browserthereof, presuming the viewer has the right to view the page. Inparticular, the CMS 12 receives a request for the page 16 from theviewer at the browser (step 415) and in response serves such page 16 tothe viewer at the browser in presentation mode (step 417). Thus, theviewer can view the page 16 only and cannot modify any placeholdercontrol object 26 in the page 16.

As may be appreciated, at some later point after the creation of thepage 16, a user with appropriate rights may wish to edit and/or modifythe page 16. For example, the user may wish to add or delete aplaceholder control object 26 in the page 16 or to modify the contentsof a placeholder control object 26 in the page 16. Accordingly, and inone embodiment of the present invention, the user navigates on a browserto the page 16 such that the CMS 12 serves the page 16 to the user atthe browser thereof (step 419), and then directs the authoring tool 14to put the page 16 and each placeholder control object 26 therein intoauthoring mode as at step 403.

Thus, and again, the CMS 12 serves the page 16 and each placeholdercontrol object 26 therein in authoring mode as at step 405. In authoringmode, the user appropriately modifies the content of each placeholdercontrol object 26 as desired and/or as necessary based on the type ofsuch placeholder control object 26 as at step 407 and saves the authoredpage 16 as at step 409. Once saved, and again, the user may direct theauthoring tool 14 to put the page 16 and each placeholder control object26 therein into presentation mode as at step 411, and the CMS 12 maythen serve such page 16 to any requesting viewer at a browser thereof asat step 417.

Dynamic Link Control Object

In another embodiment of the present invention, and turning now to FIG.5, another control object in the toolbox 24 of the authoring tool 14 isa dynamic link control object (DLCO) 28 that when placed on a page 16displays navigation links 30 associated with the page 16. As may beappreciated, a viewer viewing the page 16 may select one of thedisplayed links 30 to navigate to another page 16 corresponding to suchselected link 30. Significantly, the DLCO 28 senses the context of thepage 16 and functions differently depending upon such sensed context. Inparticular, a user selects and places a particular type of DLCO 28 on apage 16 so that the DLCO 28 displays particular links 30 that arerelevant to the page 16. In doing so, the user need not be concernedwith the specific links 30 that are to be displayed inasmuch as the DLCO28 will determine such specific links 30 based on the functionalitythereof. Instead, the user need only decide the types of links 30, andbased thereon chooses an appropriate DLCO 28. Thus, a DLCO 28 on onepage 16 may display different links 30 as compared to the same DLCO 28on another page 16. Moreover, a DLCO 28 on one portion of a page 16 maydisplay different links 30 as compared to the same DLCO 28 on anotherportion of the same page 16. Similarly, a DLCO 28 on a page 16 maydisplay different links 30 to different viewers, different workstations, different geographic locations, etc.

A DLCO 28, then, is to be contrasted with the prior art wherein a userdesigning a page 16 manually specifies each link 30 that is to appear onthe page 16. Such DLCO 28 is also to be contrasted with the prior artwherein a user designing a page 16 may choose a pre-built object from alibrary or database to appear on the page 16, where the pre-built objectalways displays the same links 30 irrespective of the page 16 upon whichsuch pre-built object is located. Put another way, with the pre-builtobject of the prior art, the links 30 displayed thereby are unchangingor ‘static’, whereas with the DLCO 28 of the present invention, thelinks displayed thereby change and therefore are ‘dynamic’. As may beappreciated, then, a DLCO 28 offers ease of use to a designing user inthat such user need not consider navigation within a web site 18.Instead, each newly created page 16 is automatically added to all othersite navigation links 30 on other pages 16.

The types of context regarding a page that may be relevant to a DLCO 28can be any types of context without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention. For example, a DLCO 28 may display differentlinks 30 depending on the position of a page within a hierarchy of theweb site 18, on the hierarchy itself, on a history of pages 16 of theweb site 18 that have been viewed by a viewer, on the viewer himself orherself, on a computer employed by the viewer, on a sensed geographiclocation of the viewer, on a position of the DLCO 28 within the page 16,on a size of the DLCO 28 within the page 16, on pre-defined sectionswithin the page 16, on the time of day, on the time of year, or thelike.

In general, then, any DLCO 28 senses context comprising one or moreattributes relevant to the page 16, and based thereon displaysparticular links 30 on the page 16. With the authoring tool 14, thetoolbox 24, and the DLCO 28, then, an enterprise functionary can createparticular types of links 30 on a page 16 merely by placing anappropriate type or variety of DLCO 28 on the page 16, perhaps in anappropriate location thereon.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each DLCO 28 is instantiatedfrom a class of such objects, including at least one base class andperhaps one or more inheriting classes that inherit from the base class.Note that by employing classes, a programmer may develop a custom DLCO28 based on a DLCO 28 already existing in the toolbox 24 merely bydefining the custom DLCO 28 as inheriting from the existing DLCO 28, andthen by defining functionality specific to such custom DLCO 28.

As may be appreciated, a particular DLCO 28 may be any type of DLCO 28without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.Typically, and as should now be appreciated, any particular DLCO 28 isdesigned to display particular types of links 28 relevant to theparticular context of a page 16 upon which the DLCO 28 is placed. Ofcourse, a DLCO 28 may also be designed to display static links 30 thatdo not change with the particular context of a page 16, if so desired orrequired. Examples of such a DLCO 28 follow.

One type of DLCO 28 is a tree DLCO 28 (to the top in FIG. 5), thatdisplays links 30 relevant to the hierarchical tree of a web site 18with which a page 16 is associated. That is, and as should beappreciated, a web site 18 as hosted by a typical CMS 12 includes aplurality of pages 16 organized into a hierarchical structure or tree.For example, the web site 18 may have a ‘home’ page 16 at the base ofthe tree, various first level pages 16 branching from the home page 16,various second level pages 16 branching from the first level pages 16,and so forth. Typically, the CMS 12 knows such hierarchical tree and theposition of each page 16 therein, or can build such hierarchical tree asnecessary. Thus, a tree DLCO 28 positioned on a particular page 16 ofsuch web site 18 can display links 30 relating to such hierarchicaltree.

In one instance, the links 30 displayed by a DLCO 28 with respect to aparticular page 16 from a web site 18 are links 30 to further levels ofthe hierarchical tree as such tree extends from the particular page 16.Thus, the links 30 displayed are for pages 16 that branch from theparticular page 16. In another instance, the links 30 displayed are forpages 16 that branch from another location within the hierarchical tree,such as for example pages 16 that branch from the home page 16, or pages16 that branch from the parent or grandparent page 16 of the particularpage 16. As may be appreciated, in such a situation, the branching page16 for the tree DLCO 28 may be set to any page 16 in the tree withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as long assuch set page 16 can be related to the particular page 16.

Note that with the tree DLCO 28 and with other DLCOs 28, various optionsmay be set by a user defining such DLCO 28. For example, the font and/orstyle of each link 30 may be set, as well as where to display the link,such as for example in the present pane, in a parent pane, in a childpane, etc. Note, too, that specific types of DLCOs 28 may have optionsrelevant thereto. For example, a tree DLCO 28 may have an option todisplay tree links 30 from the top down or from the left to the right,and an option to select the aforementioned branching page 16 by itsrelation to the particular page 16, among others.

Another type of DLCO 28 is a trail DLCO 28 (to the center in FIG. 5)that displays a navigation trail of where a viewer has visited withinthe web site 18. As may be appreciated, the CMS 12 typically maintainssuch trail information and therefore can construct links 30 with suchtrail DLCO 28 with relative ease. For example, if the viewer jumps amongmultiple pages 16 within the web site 18, a trail DLCO 28 may be placedon each page 16 to display a backward trail of links 30 corresponding tothe order with which such pages 16 were visited, perhaps back a certainnumber of steps such as for example 5, 10, or 15. Thus, if the viewerdecides to go back a number of pages 16 within the web site 18 from acurrently viewed page 16, such user need only select the correspondingdisplayed link 30 from the trail DLCO 28 on such currently viewed page.

Yet another type of DLCO 28 is a summary DLCO 28 (to the bottom in FIG.5) that summarizes a currently viewed page 16. For example, if the page16 has a long list of titled items, a summary DLCO 28 may merely list alink 30 to the title of each item. Such titles may for example besections within a document or titles of news items, where each titlednews item is followed by at least a portion of the body of such newsitem. Thus, a viewer viewing a page 16 of such titled items may merelyreview the links 30 to the titles of the items as summarized within asummary DLCO 28 on the page 16, and by choosing an appropriate one ofthe links 30 the viewer is transported to such item on the page 16.Parenthetically, it is to be appreciated that each item or at least aportion thereof may appear on the page 16 in the form of an appropriateplaceholder control object 26, as was discussed above in connection withFIGS. 3 and 4.

To summarize, then, any DLCO 28 is characterized by the fact thatplacing such DLCO 28 on a page 16 causes the DLCO 28 to display links 30in a dynamic manner such that the displayed links 30 are relevant to thepage 16. Accordingly, the displayed links 30 can vary from page 16 topage 16 and can even based on attributes relating to the page 16 or theposition of the DLCO 28 within the page 16, among other things. Thus, auser designing a page 16 can design the links 30 for the page merely byplacement of one or more appropriate DLCOs 28 thereon.

Other types of DLCOs 28 include but are not limited to: a positionsensitive DLCO 28 that displays links 30 based on whether positioned atthe top, bottom, left, side, right side, center, etc. of a page 16; arights sensitive DLCO 28 that displays links 30 based on what rights theviewer has at the web site 18; a viewer sensitive DLCO 28 that displayslinks 30 based on who the viewer is and/or characteristics thereof; anenvironmentally sensitive DLCO 28 that displays links 30 based onenvironmental considerations such as time of day, weather local to theviewer, geographic location of the viewer, etc.; a mood sensitive DLCO28 that displays links 30 based on sensed viewer mood as determined fromdetectable viewer mood characteristics; and the like.

As may be appreciated, a page 16 with a DLCO 28 therein is designedeither from a pre-defined template available to the designing user,where the template has one or more DLCO 28 therein, or from scratch withone or more DLCOs 28 as obtained from the toolbox 24 of the authoringtool 14. In the latter case, the user presumably has appropriate rightsto so create the page 16 from scratch and not from a template. Designinga page 16 with a DLCO 28 therein may be performed in any appropriatemanner without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

Turning now to FIG. 6, a method for the CMS 12 to serve a page 16 withat least one DLCO 28 therein in the course of hosting a web site 18 isshown in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.Preliminarily, and as should be appreciated, a viewer at a browser of awork station decides to view the page 16 with the at least one DLCO 28therein and therefore sends a request to the CMS 12 for the page 16(step 601). Note that the request may be initiated by selecting a link30 on another page 16 of the web site 18, or by selecting a link for thepage 16 from another web site, or by directly entering a locator for thepage 16 into the browser. At any rate, the CMS 12 receives the requestfrom the viewer for the page 16 with the at least one DLCO 28 therein(step 603), retrieves the page 16 from the content database 20 (step605), and notes that the page 16 includes the at least one DLCO 28therein (step 607).

Accordingly, the CMS 12 examines each DLCO 28 in the page 16 todetermine the type thereof, and more significantly determines regardingthe DLCO 28 what kind of context information relating to the page 16must be obtained (step 609). For example, for the tree DLCO 28, the CMS12 determines that the hierarchical tree for the web site 18 of the page16 must be obtained, for the summary DLCO 28, the CMS 12 determines whattitles are in the page 16, and for the trail DLCO 28, the CMS 12determines the prior history of the viewer at the web site 18. Note thatthe context information ideally should be present at the CMS 12,although it is to be appreciated that in certain instances such contextinformation must be obtained externally from the CMS 12. For example,for an environmentally sensitive DLCO 28 based on weather local to theviewer, the CMS 12 must determine the geographic location of the viewerand the weather thereat, presumably both fro external sources. At anyrate, once it is determined what kind of context information is needed,the CMS 12 in fact obtains such context information (step 611).

Thereafter, based on the DLCO 28, the page 16 thereof, the obtainedcontext information, and perhaps other information, the CMS constructsthe links 30 that are to appear in the page 16 based on the DLCO 28(step 613). Constructing such links 30 of course varies based on thepage 16, the DLCO 28, and the context information, and therefore cannotbe described in any general sense except to say that the CMS 12 may knowhow to construct the links 30 for the DLCO 28 either from the DLCO 28directly or based on knowledge of the DLCO 28 without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention. In the latter case, the DLCO28 may know how to construct the links 30 for the DLCO 28 based onknowledge of the DLCO 28 because the DLCO 28 and constructioninformation therefore were previously registered to the CMS 12.

Once the CMS 12 has traversed each DLCO 28 in the page 16 and hasconstructed corresponding links 30 based thereon for the page 16, andonce the CMS 12 has otherwise completed construction of the page 16(step 615), the CMS 12 then returns the completed page 16 with thedynamic links 30 therein to the requesting viewer at the browser of thework station thereof (step 617). The CMS 12 may then perform anynecessary or desired housekeeping functions. For example, in the event atrail DLCO 28 may be present in a page 16 of the web site 18, the CMS 12may update the history of the requesting viewer.

CONCLUSION

The programming necessary to effectuate the processes performed andstructures created in connection with the present invention isrelatively straight-forward and should be apparent to the relevantprogramming public. Accordingly, such programming is not attachedhereto. Any particular programming, then, may be employed to effectuatethe present invention without departing from the spirit and scopethereof.

In the foregoing description, it can be seen that the present inventioncomprises a new and useful CMS system 10 with an authoring tool 14 thatis usable by a non-technical enterprise functionary to create, modify,and/or edit a page 16 of content to be served by the CMS 12 of thesystem 10. The authoring tool 14 has a toolbox 24 of control objects,where the functionary can at least in part design a page 16 by layingout on the page 16 one or more control objects from the toolbox 24 andthen editing each control object as necessary. One control object is aplaceholder control object 26 that functions in an authoring mode tofacilitate authoring of content on the page 16 and in a presentationmode to facilitate presentation of the authored content on the page 16,depending on whether the page 16 is being authored or presented. Anothercontrol object is a dynamic link control object (DLCO) 28 that functionsto dynamically present links 30 to a viewer on a page 16 depending onthe context of the page 16.

It should be appreciated that changes could be made to the embodimentsdescribed above without departing from the inventive concepts thereof.It should be understood, therefore, that this invention is not limitedto the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to covermodifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention asdefined by the appended claims.

1. A placeholder control object for being positioned on a page of a website, the web site being hosted by a content management server (CMS),the CMS for storing the page with the placeholder control object thereinand serving same to a requestor thereof, the placeholder control objectand the page having a presentation mode and an authoring mode, theplaceholder control object for having content associated therewith, thepage and the placeholder control object therein being served by the CMSin the presentation mode to a requesting viewer of the page at a browserthereof, the placeholder control object in the presentation modedisplaying the associated content to the viewer within the browserthereof; and the page and the placeholder control object therein beingserved by the CMS in the authoring mode to a requesting designer of thepage at a browser thereof, the placeholder control object in theauthoring mode allowing editing of the associated content by thedesigner within the browser thereof and saving the edited content to theCMS.
 2. The object of claim 1 wherein in the presentation mode thereofthe viewer cannot edit the displayed content and save any such editedcontent to the CMS.
 3. The object of claim 1 comprising a boxplaceholder control object which in presentation mode displays one of apicture and text to the viewer and in authoring mode allows the one ofthe picture and text to be modified by the designer and saved to theCMS.
 4. The object of claim 1 comprising a source placeholder controlobject which in presentation mode displays one of a picture and textfrom a pre-defined source to the viewer and in authoring mode allows thesource to be modified by the designer and saved to the CMS.
 5. Theobject of claim 1 comprising a selection placeholder control objectwhich in presentation mode displays one of a picture and text from apre-defined set to the viewer and in authoring mode allows the one ofthe picture and text to be selected from the pre-defined set by thedesigner and saved to the CMS.
 6. The object of claim 1 wherein: theplaceholder control object in the presentation mode displays theassociated content to the viewer according to rules; and the placeholdercontrol object in the authoring mode allows editing of the rules by thedesigner and saving the edited rules to the CMS.
 7. The object of claim1 wherein the placeholder control object as stored at the CMS includestherewith information on where to store and obtain the content.
 8. Amethod of employing a placeholder control object in connection with apage of a web site, the web site being hosted by a content managementserver (CMS), the CMS for storing the page with the placeholder controlobject therein and serving same to a requestor thereof, the placeholdercontrol object and the page having a presentation mode and an authoringmode, the placeholder control object for having content associatedtherewith, the method comprising: a designer creating the page with theaid of the CMS and within a browser; the designer directing that the CMSserve the page and the placeholder control object therein in authoringmode and receiving at the browser thereof the served page and theplaceholder control object therein from the CMS in response thereto inan editable authoring mode; the designer with the page and theplaceholder control object therein in authoring mode editing the contentof the placeholder control object and saving the page and the editedplaceholder control object therein to the CMS; the designer directingthat the CMS serve the saved page and the placeholder control objecttherein in presentation mode and receiving at the browser thereof thesaved page and the placeholder control object therein from the CMS inresponse thereto in a non-editable presentation mode.
 9. The method ofclaim 8 wherein the designer creating the page comprises one of creatingthe page from a pre-defined template available thereto, creating thepage from scratch with the placeholder control object obtained from atoolbox, creating the page from an already-existing page navigated to bythe designer on the browser thereof, and editing an already-existingpage navigated to by the designer on the browser thereof.
 10. The methodof claim 8 further comprising the user with the page and the placeholdercontrol object therein in authoring mode editing size and/or placementof the placeholder control object on the page.
 11. A computer-readablemedium having stored thereon a data structure for being read by acomputer, the data structure comprising a placeholder control object forbeing positioned on a page of a web site, the web site being hosted by acontent management server (CMS), the CMS for storing the page with theplaceholder control object therein and serving same to a requestorthereof, the placeholder control object and the page having apresentation mode and an authoring mode, the placeholder control objectfor having content associated therewith, the page and the placeholdercontrol object therein being served by the CMS in the presentation modeto a requesting viewer of the page at a browser thereof, the placeholdercontrol object in the presentation mode displaying the associatedcontent to the viewer within the browser thereof; and the page and theplaceholder control object therein being served by the CMS in theauthoring mode to a requesting designer of the page at a browserthereof, the placeholder control object in the authoring mode allowingediting of the associated content by the designer within the browserthereof and saving the edited content to the CMS.
 12. The medium ofclaim 11 wherein the data structure comprises the placeholder controlobject wherein in the presentation mode thereof the viewer cannot editthe displayed content and save any such edited content to the CMS. 13.The medium of claim 11 wherein the data structure comprises a boxplaceholder control object which in presentation mode displays one of apicture and text to the viewer and in authoring mode allows the one ofthe picture and text to be modified by the designer and saved to theCMS.
 14. The medium of claim 11 wherein the data structure comprises asource placeholder control object which in presentation mode displaysone of a picture and text from a pre-defined source to the viewer and inauthoring mode allows the source to be modified by the designer andsaved to the CMS.
 15. The medium of claim 11 wherein the data structurecomprises a selection placeholder control object which in presentationmode displays one of a picture and text from a pre-defined set to theviewer and in authoring mode allows the one of the picture and text tobe selected from the pre-defined set by the designer and saved to theCMS.
 16. The medium of claim 11 wherein: the placeholder control objectin the presentation mode displays the associated content to the vieweraccording to rules; and the placeholder control object in the authoringmode allows editing of the rules by the designer and saving the editedrules to the CMS.
 17. The medium of claim 11 wherein the placeholdercontrol object as stored at the CMS includes therewith information onwhere to store and obtain the content.
 18. A computer-readable mediumhaving stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing amethod of employing a placeholder control object in connection with apage of a web site, the web site being hosted by a content managementserver (CMS), the CMS for storing the page with the placeholder controlobject therein and serving same to a requestor thereof, the placeholdercontrol object and the page having a presentation mode and an authoringmode, the placeholder control object for having content associatedtherewith, the method comprising: a designer creating the page with theaid of the CMS and within a browser; the designer directing that the CMSserve the page and the placeholder control object therein in authoringmode and receiving at the browser thereof the served page and theplaceholder control object therein from the CMS in response thereto inan editable authoring mode; the designer with the page and theplaceholder control object therein in authoring mode editing the contentof the placeholder control object and saving the page and the editedplaceholder control object therein to the CMS; the designer directingthat the CMS serve the saved page and the placeholder control objecttherein in presentation mode and receiving at the browser thereof thesaved page and the placeholder control object therein from the CMS inresponse thereto in a non-editable presentation mode.
 19. The medium ofclaim 18 wherein the designer creating the page comprises one ofcreating the page from a pre-defined template available thereto,creating the page from scratch with the placeholder control objectobtained from a toolbox, creating the page from an already-existing pagenavigated to by the designer on the browser thereof, and editing analready-existing page navigated to by the designer on the browserthereof.
 20. The medium of claim 18 wherein the method further comprisesthe user with the page and the placeholder control object therein inauthoring mode editing size and/or placement of the placeholder controlobject on the page.